


kids these days (give you heart attacks)

by leeminhyoongi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Medical, Doctors, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, I think there's Chensung if you squint so hard you're almost closing your eyes too, Jaemin is Whipped for Jeno, Jeno is Whipped for Jaemin too, M/M, Renjun is a strong and independent man and he needs no man, There is Markhyuck if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 12:07:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,262
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15339540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leeminhyoongi/pseuds/leeminhyoongi
Summary: Jaemin and Jeno are both doctors at the pediatrics ward where there is a high risk of falling (in love).





	kids these days (give you heart attacks)

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally an idea I had for another pairing, but I have just been dying to write Nomin and I thought that they fit this plot perfectly.
> 
> I'm still a bit confused myself, so I'm sorry if I've made any mistakes with the boys' professions/titles! And, just in case it isn't clear:  
>  **Jaemin and Jeno** : pediatric residents  
>  **Renjun and Haechan** : nurses at the pediatrics ward  
>  **Mark** : pediatric neurosurgeon and chief pediatric resident  
>  **Chenle** : medical intern  
>  **Jisung** : medical technician

Na Jaemin is not a morning person. This is a well-known fact at the pediatrics ward at Seoul National University Hospital, where Jaemin is a second year pediatric resident. He always arrives at the ward with barely enough time to wear his white coat over his shoulders and throw his stethoscope around his neck. On bad days, a part of his hair would be standing on end or a portion of his shirt would have a toothpaste stain, costing him the few seconds he has left to breathe before a new day at work to comb his hair down or wipe his shirt clean. Renjun, Jaemin’s best friend since college and one of the staff nurses at the same ward, would always tut-tut at Jaemin’s lack of promptness but hand him a (now room temperature) tumbler of coffee anyway. (It had cost Jaemin an entire month’s worth of pay to treat Renjun out to all of the new restaurants he had wanted to try around town just to get him to agree to either buy or make Jaemin a cup of coffee each morning because Jaemin clearly has no time to do either himself.) Nobody ever gets mad at Jaemin though. He makes it to work right before he can be deemed late anyway, plus, he does a great job at handling the kids and their parents. He’s a fantastic doctor. No one can also resist Jaemin’s dazzling smile and twinkling eyes, partially because they’ve been blinded by Jaemin’s bright disposition but mostly because Jaemin is just naturally beautiful, both inside and out.

If Jaemin were to be completely honest, he actually abhors having to wake up at 5:30 every morning just to make it to the hospital before 6 am (thank heavens he had successfully convinced his parents to allow him to rent an apartment just a block away from SNUH otherwise, Jaemin would have had to wake up even earlier), but his love and passion for his profession and the kids (god, _especially_ the kids) trumps this hatred, allowing him to have made it through nearly a decade of waking up at and working ungodly hours.

 

 

 

By the time Jaemin steps into the pediatrics ward, white coat half on and black stethoscope hanging precariously around his neck, the night shift nurses have just finished endorsing today’s patients to the morning shift nurses and are already getting ready to go home. Jaemin sends them a small smile before making his way straight to the nurses station, just right in front of Renjun and Haechan who hand him his coffee and fix his stethoscope for him respectively.

“What did I miss?” Jaemin asks after blowing each of his friends a kiss of gratitude. He runs a hand through his hair and down his shirt as he catches his breath.

“Bed number 1 is still on vital signs monitoring every two hours, but bed number 2 could be sent home today, we’re just waiting for her latest lab results to see the progress of her antibiotic treatment,” Renjun reads from the notes he took from earlier. “Everybody else is stable or just the same as yesterday, but we have a new patient. Bed number 8, acute subdural hematoma, three days status post-Burr hole trephination care of Dr. Mark Lee, for CT scan within this week, and vital signs monitoring every hour.” He reaches over to Haechan’s side of the nurses station, pulls out a bright yellow folder with “Bed 8” printed in bold, blue font on its spine from a pile of similar-looking folders, and hands it to Jaemin.

Jaemin accepts the folder but doesn’t open it. SNUH’s pediatric ward has a bed capacity of 30. First year pediatric residents and interns are assigned to beds 11 to 25, second year pediatric residents get beds 1 to 10, while third year pediatric residents are left with beds 26 to 30 since they’re usually busy with their fellowships and subspecialties. There are currently only two second year pediatric residents at SNUH, Jaemin is one of them, and they have both agreed to divide their assignment into two groups: the odd beds and the even beds, so they could handle about the same number and load of patients. “Bed 8 is _his_ though,” Jaemin bends over the counter a bit to hiss at Renjun’s ear to remind his best friend that Jaemin is in charge of the odd beds, and 8 is definitely not an odd number.

“Yeah, well, _he_ ’s not here right now which is why Bed 8 is yours for the time being. Mark hyung wants you to see if any other medications are needed too,” Haechan says out loud, causing Jaemin to reach out to him instead to land a palm over his mouth.

Jaemin looks over his shoulders to check if anybody else in the ward had heard Haechan, and smiles even if nobody is looking at them weirdly. “Gosh, will you please lower down your voice?”

Haechan pulls Jaemin’s hand away from his face and sprays alcohol on his palm before running it over his mouth a couple of times. His face is scrunched into a look of distaste. “You are disgusting, touching people without performing even hand hygiene,” Haechan comments as he glares at Jaemin who only sticks a tongue at him in response but gets the bottle of alcohol from his friend anyway. “And, I don’t have to shut up, not right now when _he_ isn’t here, or _ever_ for that matter, because everybody in this entire hospital already knows about your crush on –“

Jaemin spritzes Haechan’s face (mouth, to be honest) with alcohol before quickly grabbing Bed 8’s folder from the counter and walking to the patients’ area. He can hear Haechan coughing and gagging but he doesn’t feel sorry. It’s what Haechan and his obnoxious mouth deserve, Jaemin thinks right before he puts on his million-dollar smile as he makes his way to bed 1.

 

Jaemin takes his time as he checks up on each of his patients and chats with their respective guardians. Ask any of the children and parents Jaemin has handled and met, and each of them would mention at one point how caring and patient Jaemin is. Everything seems to be well at the moment, and Jaemin can’t help but sigh in relief. In this kind of profession, a calm and stable ward is always highly appreciated.

Haechan passes by Jaemin as he makes his own rounds, pushing his nursing cart in front of him. “ _He_ stopped by earlier to see his patients, by the way, so you don’t have to assess them,” Haechan tells Jaemin. He grins at and jokes with the patient at bed 4, easily distracting the kid from the tray of medications in Haechan’s hands.

Jaemin nods and makes his way to the farther end of the corridor, where beds 8, 9, and 10 are stationed. Bed 9 is empty, Jaemin had even sent the teenage girl off yesterday, so he makes a beeline towards bed 8. A woman, probably the child in bed 8’s mother, is seated on the plastic chair beside the bed, her head buried in her arms on the edge of the bed. Jaemin can hear her snoring softly so he decides to give her a few more minutes to catch up on sleep and interview her later. A boy, about the age of five, is seated on the inner corner of the bed, playing with a dinosaur figurine all by himself.

“Is that a t-rex?” Jaemin whispers excitedly as he stands beside the bed, right in front of the boy. The boy immediately freezes at the sound of Jaemin’s voice, but Jaemin isn’t fazed. He has always been good with children and working at the pediatrics ward has helped him become a master of interacting with kids. He stays silent but offers the kid a soft smile. The boy nods and smiles back, as Jaemin had expected (and hoped for, to be honest).

“Aren’t you scared it will bite you?” Jaemin asks. He makes a show that he’s afraid, making the boy grin even wider.

“Nope,” the boy answers. He spins the toy around so it’s facing Jaemin now. He offers the dinosaur’s head to Jaemin, urging the doctor to give it a pat on the head. “This is my friend! His name is Alex.”

Jaemin _ahhh_ s and nods. He taps a finger twice on top of Alex’ head. “Hi, Alex, it’s nice to meet you!” The boy shakes Alex. His smile is taking up most of his face by now. Jaemin’s own grin widens too. He slides the stethoscope off his neck. “What about you, what’s your name?”

“Kim Namjoon, but my friends call me Joonie,” the boy answers. He’s playing with Alex again. _This is not so bad_ , Jaemin thinks to himself as he notices that Namjoon is completely comfortable and at ease with him.

“And how old are you, Joonie? Can I call you that? Am I your friend?”

Joonie turns to look at Jaemin and studies him for a while. Then he smiles at Jaemin. “Okay, we’re friends now!”

“Good,” Jaemin replies. He scoots closer to Joonie and tries to get to know the boy even more. Jaemin finds out that Joonie is indeed five years old and that he was born in December 15 (“I’m going to be a big boy soon!”). Joonie likes all kinds of animals and he even wants to become a veterinarian (“ _veretinarian,_ ” Joonie insists) when he grows up. Jaemin uses this information as he performs his basic physical assessment on Joonie. He tells Joonie that his stethoscope is a two-headed snake named Donghyuck (Renjun snorts when he hears this as he checks on Bed 7’s IV lines) while his pulse oximeter is a crocodile named Josh.

“He’s still a baby, so look, he still has no teeth,” Jaemin tells Joonie as he shows the boy his pulse oximeter.

“So it won’t hurt when he bites my finger?”

Jaemin puts his own finger in the pulse oximeter and waves it at Joonie. “Not at all!”

Joonie’s mother wakes up a couple of minutes later. She profusely apologizes to Jaemin as she straightens herself up. Jaemin assures her that it’s no problem at all and even shows her how well he and Joonie have gotten along. Jaemin allows Joonie to play with the “animals” for a few and focuses his energy on conversing with Joonie’s mother. Mrs. Kim is pleasant despite the stress that she had recently underwent because of Joonie’s admission at the hospital and surgery. Jaemin finds out all of the information he needs and mentally reminds himself to write them all down on Joonie’s record later on. Once he and Mrs. Kim have finished talking, Jaemin turns to Joonie again.

“Are any of your animals sick, Dr. Kim?” Jaemin asks to which Joonie shakes his head in response. Joonie evidently brightens at being called “Doctor”. “So I can bring Donghyuck and Josh home now?”

Joonie nods and willingly hands Jaemin’s stethoscope and pulse oximeter over to him. Jaemin smiles and says his thanks for Joonie’s cooperation and service.

“I have to go now, Mrs. Kim. Please just wait for further instructions regarding Joonie’s stay at the ward, there will be a couple of medications we need to get from the pharmacy,” Jaemin tells Joonie’s mother who picks the boy up in her arms. He catches Joonie staring at him so Jaemin offers the boy a high five.

Joonie slaps his palm against Jaemin’s own. “You’re pretty. Let’s go on a date!” he exclaims suddenly. This catches Jaemin off-guard but he laughs it off anyway. He holds Joonie’s little hand in his own as he tells the boy to behave in the ward first before Jaemin agrees to the do on a date with him.

 

“Long day?” Renjun asks when Jaemin takes a seat beside him at the nurse’s station.

“And it’s only been two hours since my shift started,” Jaemin drawls. He stretches his legs under the table and points and flexes his toes. He pulls a pen out of his coat pocket and opens the topmost folder on the pile in front of him but doesn’t write anything yet. “Where is _he_? I need my daily dose of happiness.”

Haechan stands behind Renjun and Jaemin after retrieving his phone from his locker. “Just your luck, _he_ just texted. _‘Haechan, sorry, but I might not make it back in time. The convention just started. Mark hyung wants me to meet a bunch of pediatric neurosurgeons too’_ ,” Haechan reads. Jaemin evidently straightens up at this, making Renjun roll his eyes. “Okay, maybe you’re not lucky today, Jaem. _’Please ask Jaemin to cover for me for today._ Sobs.’”

“ _’Sobs’_?” Renjun asks, quirking an eyebrow at Haechan.

“Yeah, _‘_ sobs _’_ ,” Haechan confirms. He shows his friends his phone where a sobbing emoticon is indeed in sight in between a bunch of words.

“ _’And that I owe him big time. Thanks, Hyuckie! And to Injun and Nana too!’_ ” Renjun finishes reading the text message. Then he and Haechan both smile knowingly to themselves before turning to Jaemin. Jaemin buries his head in his palms. He tries to make it seem as if it’s to keep his annoying friends out of his sight, but everybody knows it’s really because his face is about the shade of a ripe tomato by now (the power of Lee Jeno, really).

Haechan squeezes himself into the small space between Renjun and Jaemin on the bench and reads whatever he’s typing on his phone out loud. “Awww, that’s alright, _Jen_! I’m sure _Nana_ won’t mind. He and Bed 8 are the best of friends by now, actually. Not surprising though. You and Mark hyung have fun! Come back soon, we miss you already. _Sobs, sobs, sobs_.”

Renjun is shaking with laughter but he muffles the sound with a hand to his mouth. Jaemin glares at his friends. “Why does my nickname sound ugly when it comes out of your mouth?” He stands up and straightens out his coat. He’ll write on his patients’ records later today instead. He can’t do it now with Renjun and Haechan wiggling their eyebrows at him every chance they can get.

“I’m sorry I’m not Lee Jeno,” Haechan answers in between peals of his own laughter, not sounding the least bit apologetic at all.

Jaemin kicks the bench his friends are sitting on, but it does nothing to stop them from teasing him. “Yeah, you better be,” he sticks his tongue out at Haechan before walking back to the patients’ area to check on the other doctors and patients instead.

 

 

 

The following day, Jaemin surprisingly arrives at the ward with a little more than five minutes to spare before his shift starts. His white coat is put on properly and his medical paraphernalia are neatly tucked inside his coat pockets. He had a long day yesterday that by the time he got home, he only took a quick shower, had a glass of milk, and then went straight to bed. It was a good, long sleep so he had woken up before his alarm could ring. He has a million-dollar grin on his face as he walks inside, eager to see the looks on Renjun’s and Haechan’s (and everybody else’s) faces when they see him at the ward so early in the morning (in Jaemin standards). But, Jaemin’s smile falters and he stops in his tracks even before he can make it all the way to the nurse’s station. He feels his heart race but his knees go weak at the sight right in front of him.

“Na Jaemin, is that you?” Somebody asks from behind Jaemin, unfreezing him from his stunned state. A hand claps on Jaemin’s back, urging him to continue the path to the nurse’s station. “You’re here early.”

Jaemin recognizes the person as Dr. Mark Lee, SNUH’s chief pediatric resident and pediatric neurosurgeon fellow. Mark has always been a kind _hyung_ and mentor to Jaemin, so he leans into the elder for support. “Hi, Mark hyung.”

They walk arm in arm towards the nurse’s station, where Renjun and Haechan are seated. “You’re early,” they say in unison to Jaemin.

“One more, and I’m going to –“

“You’re early,” a voice interrupts Jaemin. Mark, Renjun, and Haechan freeze as Jaemin turns to the source. They would love to tease Jaemin right then and there, but they wait instead for romance to take on its own course. Jaemin doesn’t evidently shake at the sight of Lee Jeno as his friends had been expecting (but this is only because Jaemin had already shaken off all his jitters during the entire walk to the nurse’s station since the moment he caught sight of “his daily dose of happiness” from the ward’s front door).

 

Lee Jeno is the pediatric ward’s other second year pediatric resident. He went to the same college and medical school as Jaemin, so they’ve known each other for a long time already – and Jaemin has liked him just as long. Jeno had graduated at the top of both their college and medical school batches. Nobody was surprised though since Jeno has always been intelligent and serious, and it’s exactly why Jaemin had decided to keep his affections a secret. He doesn’t want to get in Jeno’s way as he assumed Jeno to be the type to put studies first.

“You’re already doctors!” Renjun had exclaimed once. He had been a constant witness to Jaemin’s infatuation with Jeno, and he honestly just wants Jaemin to confess already so his friends can get their happily ever after despite living in the hellhole known as the medical field.

“Yeah but he’s still undecided about whether or not he should follow Mark hyung’s footsteps into pediatric neurosurgery,” Jaemin reminded his best friend. Jaemin had thought about doing the same, but he’s fine where he is now, he had decided.

“How about we tell Mark to stop fussing over Jeno and fuss over me instead?” Haechan joked.

“ _Please_ ,” Jaemin quipped back.

 

Jeno puts his hand on Jaemin’s shoulder. “Hey, I was only joking,” he sounds concerned and only then did Jaemin understand that he must have spaced out for a bit.

“Oh, yeah, sorry. It’s clearly still too early for me to be functioning properly.” Everybody laughs but they soon quiet down and straighten themselves up in time for today’s endorsements.

 

Once it’s time for the morning shift to make their rounds, Jaemin insists that Mark and Jeno go ahead, and as soon as the both of them are out of earshot, he crouches down to level with Renjun’s and Haechan’s ears. “You should’ve texted me that he’d be here today!”

His friends don’t look at him since they’re busy fixing their own stuff for today’s duty. “I don’t know where you’ve been for the last two years, Jaem, but Jeno is here every day,” Haechan begins, sarcasm coating each of his words. “I mean, he is a pediatric resident. Just like you!”

Jaemin is too busy catching his breath and calming down his heart to return Haechan’s jab, but he turns to Renjun in panic. “Is my hair okay? Do I have toothpaste residue anywhere? It’s a good thing I took a bath this morning, oh my god.”

“You don’t take a bath every day?!” Renjun asks incredulously, the hand he had planned to use to smoothen out Jaemin’s tresses stopping in midair.

Jaemin pulls Renjun’s hand and puts it on his head, urging his friend to proceed with whatever it is he had wanted to do. “I do, idiot, but usually at night. I only shower in the morning since I barely have time to even have breakfast.”

“It’s called setting an alarm,” Haechan sing-songs as he walks towards the beds.

“I do have an alarm, I just like to sleep a lot, okay!” Jaemin hisses after him. He allows Renjun to fuss over him, not noticing the figure approaching them.

“Nana? Oh, sorry, uh, Jaemin?” Jeno’s deep voice calls from the side.

Jaemin quickly spins, surprising even himself that he didn’t get whiplash, and raises an eyebrow at Jeno. “Yeah?”

“I know the odd beds are yours, but I was wondering if I could take bed 9.”

Jaemin walks around the nurse’s station to stand right in front of Jeno. He peers over Jeno’s shoulder to look at bed 9 from where they’re standing.

“She’s almost two years old, born with Moebius syndrome, but is admitted for infection, probably pneumonia,” Jeno informs Jaemin. He hands Bed 9’s folder for Jaemin to browse through. “Only if you don’t mind though.”

Jaemin nods, then shakes his head, then nods again. “No, no, go ahead!” He feels Renjun shake his head at him in disappointment from behind. “If you don’t mind though, why? I mean, are you doing a study on Moebius?”

“No, actually. It’s just that Bed 8 is looking for a ‘pretty doctor’,” Jeno chuckles. His eyes disappear into the half-moons Jaemin has grown incredibly fond of over the years. “Apparently, it’s not me. Am I not pretty?”

Jaemin chokes on his spit. Renjun pats him on the back comfortingly before walking off to the patients’ area. Jaemin wants to say no, and that Jeno is actually the prettiest thing Jaemin has ever laid eyes on, Jaemin hates lying anyway. But he sees Joonie standing on his bed and waving at him from the corner of his eye, so Jaemin settles with, “Not pretty enough for my patient, I guess,” instead, before making his way to bed 1.

 

Joonie is scheduled for a CT scan and Jaemin volunteers to prepare him before he is called and is wheeled away. Jaemin drapes the wheelchair Haechan had brought over with a spare blanket from Mrs. Kim and props one of the pillows on the bed against the wheelchair’s backrest. Mrs. Kim then opens her arms towards Joonie who shakes his head and points at Jaemin instead.

Mrs. Kim sighs lightheartedly. “He has been talking about you, you know. Nonstop. I think he pissed off last night’s nurses by repeatedly asking where you were last night.”

Jaemin chuckles as he wraps his arms around Joonie’s small frame and easily picks him up from the bed. Joonie grins from ear to ear in Jaemin’s arms, looking perfectly contented and pleased. “That’s nothing new, Mrs. Kim,” Jaemin jokes. A staff from the radiology department arrives so Jaemin carefully sets Joonie on the wheelchair. He squats in front of Joonie and tries to convince the boy to leave Alex behind.

“How about I hold onto Alex?” Jaemin offers. “He can play with Donghyuck and Josh inside my pocket! We’ll all wait for you to come back.”

Joonie isn’t that quick to oblige but he eventually agrees anyway. “And date?” He asks Jaemin as they near the front door of the ward.

“Hm?” Jaemin throws back. He stuffs Alex into his coat pocket in a way that his head is still peeking at the top for Joonie to see.

“Let’s go on a date, Dr. Na!”

Mrs. Kim hides her face in her palms and Jaemin is tempted to do the same. “After your CT scan, if you do well and not give mommy and the other people a hard time,” Jaemin promises. He walks with them until the door and waves at them until they turn at the corner and are out of his sight. He finishes checking up on his other patients and his fellow doctors before sitting down on the nurse’s station to write down his notes and orders for this morning.

 

Jaemin is down to his last two folders by the time Jeno stands against the counter across of Jaemin. Jeno plops his own pile of folders on the side and starts to jot down his own notes and orders.

“Bed 9 has PCAP, classification not yet confirmed,” Jeno tells Jaemin. “I don’t want her to need a mechanical ventilator, Nana.”

Jaemin stops writing to look up at Jeno. He reaches out to lay a comforting hand on top of Jeno’s own. When Jeno squeezes Jaemin’s hand, he feels his chest tighten too. He understands Jeno’s predicament. It will be difficult for both the doctor and the child should she need the mechanical ventilator. “You’ll do fine,” Jaemin reassures Jeno, and he hopes his optimism reaches the kid in bed 9 too.

Jeno smiles back at Jaemin, and he then turns to the front door. Jaemin does the same, and they both catch sight of Joonie reentering the ward with his mother and the same staff who had brought him out.

“I’m back, Dr. Na!” Joonie exclaims from his seat. Jaemin chuckles as he stands from the nurse’s station and stands beside Joonie.

“How’d it go? I hope everything went well.”

The staff from the radiology department and Mrs. Kim nod. Jaemin offers to wheel Joonie in the rest of the way. The staff thanks him and informs him that the results will be available tonight, at the earliest.

“I was a brave boy, Dr. Na,” Joonie turns in his seat to look at Jaemin standing behind him. From the corner of his eye, Jaemin can see Jeno watching the two of them fondly. Renjun and Haechan return from their rounds and join Jeno observe them too.

“Really?”

Joonie excitedly says yes and goes on about how the CT scan looked like a mouth of a whale getting ready to eat. “But we’re friends so the whale promised not to bite me and only put me inside his mouth.”

Jaemin chuckles and ruffles Joonie’s hair. The boy is proving to be adorable and irresistible, so when Joonie brings up his invitation to take Jaemin out on a date again, Jaemin happily agrees this time.

“Where are we going for our date?” Jaemin asks as he begins to push the wheelchair in the direction of bed 8.

“The aquarium!” Joonie excitedly announces. Mrs. Kim bends down to shush her son while Jaemin smiles apologetically at the other children and parents startled by Joonie’s enthusiasm.

Jeno raises an eyebrow as he watches them walk back to bed 8. Jaemin doesn’t see this, but Renjun and Haechan do.

“I told you they were best of friends,” Haechan tells him. “The boy’s fallen for Jaemin.”

“Fast and hard,” Renjun chuckles. “The night shift nurses told me he wouldn’t stop looking for Jaemin last night. He’s been asking Jaemin for that date too, good to know he’s finally gotten it.”

Jeno hums before chuckling to himself and going back to writing down on his patients’ folders.

 

 

 

Jaemin waits by the nurse’s station for Jisung to come back from depositing the blood samples he had finished collecting from different pediatric patients at the hospital’s laboratory. Jaemin waves at Jisung as soon as the younger appears at the door, and they make their way to the staff room together. It’s a calm and quiet day today, allowing the staff to take a much-needed break (although Mark had ordered four interns to stay and oversee the ward in the meantime).

“We’re here,” Jaemin sings as he closes the door to the staff room behind him after he and Jisung have entered. Haechan and Renjun had temporarily cleared the table of the medical records and paraphernalia while Mark, Jeno, and Chenle brought over an array of snacks and drinks. They each rip open a pack of chips or cookies and pop open a can of juice or soda. Mark begins telling them about the convention he and Jeno went to earlier this week, and both boys share some of the new information they learned from the other doctors at the meeting. It’s just like the old days, Jaemin thinks as he recalls the seven of them meeting up at the university library or at somebody’s house to study, even if they were in different year levels and majors.

“Have you decided on what specialty you’d be taking up, Chenle?” Mark asks a little later. Everybody pauses mid-bite or mid-gulp to look at the boy in question, waiting for his answer.

Chenle shrugs, making everyone understand that he has not decided yet. There’s no rush, really. Chenle still has rotations at about five more departments anyway, and should he decide not to take up any specialty, choosing to practice general medicine right after his internship doesn’t sound so bad too.

“The world needs more pediatric neurosurgeons,” Mark comments as he takes a sip from his can of cider. Jaemin rolls his eyes jokingly. “But I know that you’re a harder egg to crack compared to Jeno here, and he hasn’t even given me his final answer yet!”

Jeno chuckles sheepishly from beside Mark, while Renjun pats Chenle on the head. “You’re fully capable of handling all the pediatric neurosurgery cases around the world, Mark hyung,” Renjun compliments the elder. “Chenle can stay right here at the pediatrics ward and join Jaem and Jen.”

“You’ll only strangle him every chance you can get,” Haechan says as-a-matter-of-factly, but he reaches out to ruffle Chenle’s hair. “But don’t you worry, Lele, I’ll take care of you. The entire ward will take care of you, it’s the best ward in the entire hospital!”

From beside him, Jaemin hears Jisung mumble something about the orthopedics ward being better (and Jaemin finds half of his heart agreeing because his senior doctors at the ward are indeed some of the best and the nicest in all of SNUH), but nobody else hears Jisung because Haechan is still talking. “Ask around, all of our patients will tell you the same thing!”

“Don’t bother asking Bed 8, though. All you’re going to get is ‘ _Dr. Na this! Dr. Na that! Dr. Na!_ ’” Renjun advises. He ducks just before Jaemin can land an empty juice can on his head.

Everybody focuses on Jaemin this time. It’s nothing new to Jaemin since he’s used to people staring at him. It can’t be helped when he was graced with such a beautiful face and out-of-this-world proportions, he thinks (because if he said it out loud, he would be the one with a bunch of empty cans thrown at his head). But Jaemin still feels his cheeks warm and redden, especially because he can feel the intensity of Jeno’s stare on him.

“Oh yeah, I heard about the kid at bed 8,” Chenle exclaims. “My classmates were talking about him the other day. They said he’s got a big crush on you, Jaemin hyung.”

Renjun and Haechan take turns in filling the rest of their friends in about the romance brewing between Jaemin and Joonie. It’s not a rare occurrence for their patients to find the staff cute and even develop a bit of a crush on them, but what excites them all is the boldness of the boy, since usually, their patients would be mum about their adoration for the doctors and nurses. Everybody is amused except for Jaemin, who feels himself blushing up until the tips of his ears.

“I dropped by his bed right before coming here, actually. He looks like he’s recovering from the surgery pretty well. Seems like meeting you has put him in high spirits,” Mark says.

It was Jisung’s turn to share his experience with the boy in bed 8. “I collected blood from him earlier today, and he eagerly told me about an aquarium date with Dr. Na.” The youngest turns in his seat to wiggle his eyebrows at Jaemin who puts a hand on the back of Jisung’s neck and squeezes repeatedly. Jisung cringes but Jaemin doesn’t stop, Jisung should be thankful Jaemin isn’t strangling him like Renjun probably would.

“Well, he was pretty persistent. Plus, I don’t want the night shift nurses to be waiting for me in the morning just to rant about Joonie chatting their ears off about me,” Jaemin reasons. Before he can stop himself, he steals a glance at Jeno who has been awfully quiet the entire time. Jeno is looking at him too. There’s a smile on his lips but it’s not the kind that makes his eyes disappear into crescents. Jaemin doesn’t think too much about it though, Jeno has always been serious anyway.

A knock on the door causes the group of friends to turn their heads towards the direction of the sound where an intern’s head pops out from the crack of the door. She lets them know that the teenager in bed 14 is febrile but there has not been an order for an antipyretic.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Mark tells the intern since he is the pediatric chief resident after all. Everybody takes this as the cue to stand up and start cleaning the mess they’ve made. Chenle and Jisung grab the bags of trash and offer to be the ones to toss them into the garbage bin since they will be making their way out of the ward anyway. The youngest boys bid their goodbyes to the older ones and wish Jaemin well on his date with the boy in bed 8.

“Well, at least Joonie tried, right?” Mark begins as he pushes the four other boys out of the staff room and towards the nurse’s station. His tone is playful, clearly teasing.

From the front of the line, Jeno and Jaemin turn back to raise their eyebrows at Mark, urging him to continue with whatever it is he’s saying.

“I mean, at least he tried asking Jaemin out on a date, unlike –“ Mark doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Haechan suddenly stomps the heel of his foot down on Mark’s own.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“I thought I saw a mosquito,” Haechan excuses himself through a tight-lipped smile and widened eyes at Mark. Jaemin doesn’t understand how Haechan can spot a mosquito all the way over at Mark’s foot from where he’s standing, but he lets it pass. Haechan always looks for an excuse to touch Mark anyway, even if it means hurting the older boy in the process. When he turns around, he catches Jeno’s gaze.

“Haechan needs to improve his flirting skills. I’d give that an F,” Jaemin whispers to Jeno as they make their way the patients’ area to make their rounds again.

“As if you’re any better,” Jeno retorts with a laugh. Jaemin gasps at the jab and shoves Jeno’s shoulder.

“Hey, I got myself a date, okay,” Jaemin reminds Jeno. And as if on cue, Joonie is standing on his bed again, calling out and waving at Jaemin.

Jaemin and Jeno chuckle at the boy. “Alright, let me rephrase that, as if _I’m_ any better.” Jaemin cocks an eyebrow at Jeno’s statement, but he doesn’t get any more words out of his “daily dose of happiness” because the said boy is already attending to one of the patients and conversing with her guardian.

“For the record,” Renjun suddenly whispers as he walks past Jaemin with his nurse’s cart. “You both suck at flirting.”

 

 

 

Jaemin had stayed up later than usual last night, printing coloring pages of different sea animals for Joonie, so it’s no surprise that he had not woken up to his alarm on time and had to rush to the hospital with strands of his hair sticking out in different directions. There is a “No Running” sign by the entrance, but Jaemin pays it no mind as he dashes into the pediatrics ward to scan his ID across the ward’s attendance machine just before the clock could strike 6:01 am.

“Woah there,” Jeno says from where he’s standing by the nurse’s station. He puts a hand on Jaemin’s chest to keep the younger from stumbling, and Jaemin finds himself leaning into it for support. “I think you need a new alarm clock, Nana,” Jeno jokes. He carefully moves his hand from Jaemin’s chest to Jaemin’s hip, while his other hand reaches up to run fingers through Jaemin’s hair. Jaemin had initially wanted to respond with an equally sarcastic joke, but Jeno’s ministrations have made it impossible for him to do so.

“There, all done!” Jeno says after a couple more seconds of carding his fingers through Jaemin’s hair. “Your hair still smells like strawberries.”

Jaemin swallows a lump that has formed in his throat. “Y-yeah, it’s my f-favorite shampoo so I hadn’t bothered to change it. Thanks.”

Jeno lets him know that it’s no problem before he picks up a sheet of paper from the counter and reads out loud from it. The piece of paper contains today’s endorsements so Jaemin tries his best to listen, but fails miserably. His brain is too busy trying to make sense of what Jeno had just said and done. He’s thankful that Jeno’s handwriting is a whole lot more legible than Renjun’s because he finds himself unable to concentrate on whatever it is Jeno is saying so he would have to read the notes later on.

“Jaemin?”

Jaemin snaps out of his reverie and focuses his attention on Jeno. “Yeah, sorry?”

Jeno chuckles and the mere sound makes Jaemin weak in the knees that he has to hold onto the counter for support. “I asked if you wanted to make our rounds together this morning, for a change?” Jaemin has always thought that Jeno was too good for him, so he wants to turn down Jeno’s invitation. He doesn’t want to embarrass himself in front of his crush, especially since Jeno was their batch valedictorian in both college and medical school while Jaemin had almost failed a class back in university. But this is Jeno – the boy Jaemin has had a crush on ever since he laid his eyes on him in the university library during their first year, the boy Jaemin has been using as his inspiration and motivation to get through each day in the medical profession. Jaemin would not miss any chance to spend time with Jeno, so he agrees. If ever he does make a fool out of himself in front of Jeno, the smile Jeno had just given him would be enough consolation.

 

Jeno, Jaemin learns, is just as great with children as he is. He had not expected this because Jeno is always serious and stoic, but in front of the kids, it’s almost as if Jeno is an entirely different person. He’s all half-moon eyes and bright smiles in front of the patients and their parents. He jokes around and plays with all of the kids that Jaemin can’t help but think that Jeno is completely made out of father-material. Jaemin finds himself falling in love with Jeno all over again, as if he needed to.

They both make their way towards bed 8 where Joonie is already expectantly watching them walk towards him. They greet Mrs. Kim and ask her questions about Joonie’s progress before turning to the boy to see how he’s doing for themselves.

“Joonie-ah, Dr. Lee here is going to be the one to check on you today, okay?” Jaemin tells the boy. “He has his own snake and baby crocodile, look!” Then Jaemin urges Jeno to pull out his stethoscope and pulse oximeter for Joonie to see.

“I even have a firefly with me,” Jeno says as he procures his penlight from his breast pocket. He presses the tip so it lights up, making Joonie squeal in delight.

Jaemin watches Jeno perform the physical assessment on Joonie with a fond look on his face. If any of his friends were there with them right now, Jaemin is sure he would be teased for having drool dripping from the side of his mouth. (He wipes at the spot with the back of his hand anyway, for good measure.) He hears Mrs. Kim mumble something about the doctors at SNUH being very accommodating and competent. Jaemin isn’t sure if she had meant for him to hear it, but he turns to her to say thank you anyway. They start conversing about possible actions to take once Joonie is out of the hospital, so Jaemin misses Jeno scooching closer to Joonie, and only looks at them again when Joonie lets out an excited giggle.

“What are you two laughing about?” Jaemin asks, feigning hurt at how easily Joonie had replaced him for Jeno.

“Not telling you,” Jeno sing-songs, but Joonie’s voice rings louder than his. “Dr. Lee said you’re very pretty, Dr. Na!”

Jaemin feels his heart suddenly jump to his throat. He glances at Jeno who is looking at Joonie with wide eyes, the tips of his ears turning a bright shade of pink. “He d-did?”

Joonie nods enthusiastically while Jeno whispers a “I told you to keep it a secret, Joonie!” in the boy’s ear. Mrs. Kim chuckles from the sidelines.

Jaemin doesn’t know what to do or say next so he chooses to watch Jeno silently instead. Jaemin can sense that Jeno is avoiding his stare, but Jaemin keeps looking at Jeno until the older boy gives in and they’re gazing into each other’s eyes now.

“You think I’m pretty,” Jaemin says. It’s not a question because he doesn’t want to give Jeno the chance to say no and take what he said back.

Jeno nods sheepishly. He scratches the back of his head. “I always have. I mean, it’s not an unpopular opinion.”

Jaemin hums and swallows the lump in his throat. “O-okay. Shall we move on to the next one?”

Jeno nods and points his arms towards the direction of bed 9 to allow Jaemin to walk over there first. Jaemin hasn’t gotten far when he hears Jeno talk to Joonie again.

“Hey, Joonie, do tell me how you got Dr. Na to say yes to a date with you,” Jeno whispers, but it’s loud enough for Jaemin to hear from where he’s standing that he has a feeling Jeno wants him to overhear his conversation with the boy. “I’d love to ask him to one myself.”

 

 

 

The seven boys are back inside the staff room for a much-needed _emergency_ meeting. Jaemin finds himself squished on a plastic chair with Jeno while their other friends are standing over them, eyeing them with disbelief.

“I can’t believe a kid beat you to it, Jeno Lee,” Mark says in between rings of laughter. Chenle and Jisung laugh along with him, and they high five as if what Mark had just said is the funniest thing they have ever heard.

“I can’t believe you had to ask for dating tips from a _child_ ,” is what Haechan offers next, and he only shakes his head when both Jaemin and Jeno tell him that he should give it a try sometime too.

Renjun is the only one who looks pleased with the turn of events (aside from both Jaemin and Jeno, of course). He pats his friends on their shoulders as he tells them how happy he is for them. “It’s about time, honestly!”

Jaemin rolls his eyes at Renjun, his gaze eventually landing on Jeno seated right beside him. He smiles and Jeno smiles too.

“Na Jaemin,” Jeno begins. They’re both thankful their friends are too busy chattering amongst themselves to hear the conversation going on between the two of them. “I like you. Would you go out with me?”

Jaemin smiles his million-dollar grin (Jeno thinks it’s worth a zillion dollars, honestly). “I like you too, Lee Jeno, and I would love to go on a date with you.”

 

 

 

 

 

“But. I have to go to the aquarium with Joonie first.”

**Author's Note:**

> Reena hops on the Nomin tag! This is my first Nomin (and NCT, for that matter) fic so I hope I did well!
> 
> Special thanks to my best friend, [Jordan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/euigeon/profile), for encouraging me to write this! I've finally written a medical au, and it has made me so happy!


End file.
